Thorsten Kaye, who joined All My Children in 2004, will be making a permanent exit from All My Children later this month. With the actor reportedly unwilling to relocate to Los Angeles, the ABC soap's writing team has announced plans to kill off Zach Slater. The decision is sure to draw strong reaction from fans.

It's been just about a year since All My Children moved its production from New York to Los Angeles. In that short time, the ABC soap has already lost two of its leading males -- David Canary (Adam and Stuart Chandler) and Vincent Irizarry (David Hayward). At least one, possibly both, of those exits was the direct result of the show's westward move. Now, it looks like there's another leading male who's on his way out -- possibly for good.

AMC co-head writer Donna Swajeski has revealed that the show is killing off Zach Slater, and Thorsten Kaye, who has played Zach since 2004, will be permanently exiting the show... at least for now. While soap fans know that no daytime death is ever completely final, Zach's death will certainly come as a blow to show morale.

Zach's untimely demise comes as stark contrast to the November Sweeps preview offered by Swajeski just a few months ago. "It'll be very romantic," the scribe said of Zach's return to Pine Valley, noting, though, that Zach and Kendall would "have a few misunderstandings."

While ardent Zach fans will undoubtedly be crushed by Kaye's impending departure, the news of the actor's exit probably doesn't come as a huge surprise.

Kaye, a four-time Daytime Emmy nominee, with two of those nods coming for his work on All My Children, has been vocal about not wanting to relocate to Los Angeles -- even on a part-time basis. Kaye is firmly entrenched in New York living; his long-time partner, Susan Haskell (Marty Saybrooke, One Life to Live), and their two young daughters, McKenna and Marlowe, live in New York.

"I am not the kind of dad who wants to be 3,000 miles away from my kids," Kaye told the New York Daily News last year.

A setside source tells Soap Central that during his recent return to All My Children, Kaye let it be known to anyone within earshot that he was unhappy about being back in Los Angeles. That anger, however, could very well have been due to Kaye's frustration over his six-year relationship with the show coming to an end.

Soap Opera Digest columnist Carolyn Hinsey told TVGuide Canada's Suds Report, "I wish AMC had worked harder to make it work because I think they underestimate Thorsten's value to the show. Zach and Kendall are by far their most popular couple. I hope they realize that, and honor Zach's memory. It will be a long time before fans accept Kendall with someone else."